The model is now free for anyone, you can download it from my websiteDownload Edirol vc-50 HD .3dm file here
When you open the model all the styles/objects are hidden.
That's because on some computers it may be too heavy and crash.
Wanna see a Video of it? http://www.vimeo.com/8259155

Hello everyone,
This is a little project that I do for fun at home/work with MoI beta 2.

Motivation and ideas:
I was searching for something to model, was looking around geeky products and I found this one.
I choosed this "Edirol VC-50HD" because the main shape was easy and simple, while featuring lot of details and technical parts.
If you work in video you should know what is that thing, its a field recorder for video cameras, its the size of a 3.5 hard drive.
This was done with 3 images (front, left side, right side) and 2 drawings.

Here's the real object, credits to Edirol (Roland)

Mechanical shapes and product design are my favourites working area, even in 2d drawing im bad at organic or anatomy.
This is obviously not my first model that I made using MoI but its probably the most detailled yet, ive also done two watches
for a private client and some other models in other domains like medical or architecture.

Why do I use MoI
MoI is one of the most awesome piece of software ive ever seen. Its like the sketchup of Nurbs.
I cant imagine doing this type of work in any other software. MoI learning curve is very fast even for 2d artists.
Booleans in MoI are my weapon of choice, in polygonal software its usually buggy and slow.
Fillets and chamfers are also awesome because if they fail, its your fault! Its kinda a debuging tools for models :)
When working with MoI you go very fast, for me I go faster than box modelling and I keep the precision in my model.
Also buying MoI is helping one man who's awesome, and also supporting alternative software.
(by not giving your money to Autodesk or Adobe)

Screenshots:

Modelling - end of day 2

Modelling - end of day 3

Modelling - end of day 4

Renders - end of day 4 (experiments between MoI .lwo and Cinema 4d, testing different mesh density)

Timeline:Day 1 Modelling - Setting up the images references, building the main shapes, detailling the front/right/back views.Day 2 Modelling - Detailling the top and left view, and 2d work for all the text and flat shapes in this model.Day 3 Modelling - Detailling everywhere possible, extruding all the text, renaming all the styles, cleaning the model.Day 4 Modelling - Day 4 was 1/2 I was the morning at the Hospital (Its ok I have nothing bad) so it was just renaming solids
(all of them) and detailling a little bit more :) Also ive made an exploded MoI scene for the fun.Day 5 Sharing - You can download the original 3dm file now :)

Goal of this model:
- Abusing MoI awesome booleans :)
- Exploring MoI tools when working with medium complexity models or high details.
- Pushing the computer to the limit.
- Speedtesting the MoI mesher.
- Decomposing all the parts by materials.
- Using MoI tools for pure 2d work, and using it as an alternative to a vector software.

What's next:
Share a model that's usefull for testing MoI speed in the viewport with your configuration.
To speedtest the mesher of MoI when exporting in various formats.
To test all the different MoI export formats.
Im not gonna do "video tutorials" because my english sucks.

@Pilou
Its a real object, but I dont have it physically (only pictures)
Made by Roland its an Edirol VC-50HD

@Michael
Thanks, well detailling is not over yet, ill wait until MoI crash *joke* :)
The 2d toolset is already quite powerfull, 70% of this model is lines/edit frame/copy/rotate and lock.
What I would like to have is a measure tool like in Sketchup that leave permanent measures, rhino has one also.
Maybe improving the vector output of MoI in the future. Make more options at the exporting popup.
(like thickness of the lines, closed lines, 2d surfaces color etc...)
Im already very happy with the 2d side of MoI, for technical drawing its awesome :D

> What I would like to have is a measure tool like in Sketchup
> that leave permanent measures, rhino has one also.

Yeah, those will be called "Dimensions", and I would like to make some progress for that in v3.

I do want to have pretty much all those 2D things you mention, it will probably take a while for some things, and they won't likely all come in at once but I would like to make incremental progress for that stuff as time goes on.

It won't be really be shooting necessarily for an exact 2D illustration feature set, like for example I'm not sure about having a totally fancy gradient fill editor, but getting more of the basics filled in is in the picture.

@Michael
You are awesome you know? :D
Gradients and color are useless in MoI I think because there's already good free vector programs like Inkscape.
I think MoI is already more usefull than Inkscape for lines and booleans.
Yes "Dimensions" would be a cool addition to MoI :)

I just made a funny test, extruding more than 250 curves (all the text on the right side) in one shot.
That was done in less than 3s, MoI is rock solid. Even at 100% load it doesn't crash :)
Modelling day 3 screenshot later today...

New day 3 screenshots added. My head hurts :D but in a good way.
Day 4 will be doing renders probably. I still got some things to make before like renaming all my
guides lines I created, so people gonne be able to see how I used lines and where. In the day 3 screenshots all the guide lines are turned off.
You can see some guide lines in the day 2 screenshot.

Its an Edirol VC-50HD (made by Roland) as you can see on the body text.
There's also a MoI logo but it looks like a lollipop :D

very nice mate. im actually looking around the house for something as detailed as that so i can model it and then animated it exploding for a test for a client project so its good to see you doing this in moi :)

Having a physical object doesn't help if you dont make pictures/scans of it, at least
for complicated things. But its always better to have both real and references images.

Here's my ultra secret workflow:Step 1 - I create the overall shapeStep 2 - I only use the basic tools and start detaillingStep 3 - Then I usually take a coffeeStep 4 - And I get back to step 2

It seems boring but if you stick with basic tools you will become very good, always choose the "easy" way.
Even if its slower or seem slower than using an other tool.
If you always decompose a shape into primitives into your head, and if you also do the
same into a 3d software, you will never face an impossible shape.
Dont forget construction lines, put more than needed is better than not enough.

Anybody can take a pencil and draw for month on a wall and make something awesome.
Even if the wall is only filled with millions of little circles and squares. I can draw a circle or a square on a wall for sure, everyone can!
But not everyone can do it for months, that's why it become a piece of art.

Making good models is all about the time you put into it, and MoI is perfect because in a smaller
amount of time you can trow a lot more details.

indeed, but when i model something in front of me i take images for refs and also make sketches and 2d drawings with the dimensions using my two vernier calipers sat on my desk just to make sure ( plus i have 2 metal rulers and a few plastic ones plus a couple of tape measures also sat on my desk at all times just incase yes i am an anal git)
i will wait and see about slow mo although i thought about it but the client inst interested in it as of yet. anyhoo keep them coming mate :)

@max3d
Well you have everything to rocks :D
Its good to see people using old'n'good drawing tools.

edit: Very nice portfolio mate :)
edit 2: wait you are Dave Davidson? Awesome, ive seen some of your stuff before :D
Maybe on some c4d forum, or even in the c4d help file am I right? In cgtalk also?
Cinema 4d is awesome with MoI !

What no slow motion? I wish I was your client hehe ! "can you please make a little more explosion there and there also? Yes put more particles plz"
"wait wait... not that way. Make that camera do a 360° around this piece"
"now that's badass! Good job man!"

hey if it was left to me i would still have my old drawing board, but sadly i had to chuck it as i have no room in the office for it.
Well i am a Dave Davidson thanks for liking the work on my site mate ( some of my scenes are in c4d and my name is in the help as a beta tester) and they sometimes use my work when advertising and i am all over forums like a rash pimping my work so yes to all :)) and NO SLOW MOTION.

Day 4 is done, new screenshots added.
I was in Hospital (im ok) all the morning so I just took time to rename solids and do a little more details.
Ive also saved and exploded MoI model for the fun :)

The Model cleaned is currently 54Mo so im not gonna upload it as attachments.
It takes 5 seconds on a 2.4ghz Quad to mesh in .obj with ngons at 12° angle.

Day 5 gonna by rendering and sharing the model, maybe this Monday if I got enough time.

@max3d
Yeah know I know why ive already seen your name hehe... very cool that Maxon use your work :)
Im gonna render it inside cinema 4d, when done I can send you the scene if you want (with the lighthing, objects named and grouped etc...)
So maybe you can tell if ive made any mistakes in term of rendering. Or if you want to render it ill be very proud :D
If I got enough time im gonna make an animation (a basic turntable but with the parts appearing one by one) or starting as exploded, then
slowly moving each parts into place.

@max3d
Heh I first need to setup all the materials :(
Also im exporting piece by piece in lwo because even when tweaking with "divide larger than" or "less than"
I cant find a good setting for everything without pushing the 170'000 ngons aha...

Maybe I should output quad + tri because C4D smooth tag does not fix everything. And If I render Cellulo it shows triangles.edit: added a small AO render :) Im still trying different mesh density between objects.edit 2: tried 3° angle for everything... 952'797 ngons yeah baby :D I bet I crash my workstation at 1°